German

The Last of the Blacksmiths, a work of historical fiction based family letters by Claire Gebben.

Claire Gebben

German language table

Career Opportunities

German can be a companion major/minor for another program of study, such as music, English, history, international studies, philosophy and business. Career positions include:

Foreign language teacher

Linguist/interpreter

Foreign service employee

Travel industry employee

Bilingual executive

Curator/archivist

Import/export manager

German Language and Culture

German is a leading language in areas including physics, philosophy, biotechnology and business, making it an excellent choice for career-savvy students preparing for an increasingly global society.

Comprehensive

You will gain competencies in reading, writing, speaking and language comprehension. You’ll also learn about the literature, cultural history and contemporary lifestyle of German-speaking nationalities.

Engaging

Interactive and integrated, BW’s German program offers you participative classroom discussion plus field trips to restaurants, films and other cultural events. In addition, you can join our German language table (Stammtisch) and student organizations.

Study Abroad

Germany, Austria and Switzerland are a few of the German-speaking countries where you can travel, study at a university, and earn BW credit for courses, independent study projects and/or field experiences.

Languages Across Curriculum

An interdisciplinary approach to learning, this program allows you to practice your foreign language skills while earning credit in non-language courses.

Offered as a major and minor.
Can be applied toward Teacher Licensure.

Evenings of Culture

German-American Kulturabend

The German-American Kulturabend is the brainchild of Dr. Stephen Hollender, Professor of German at Baldwin Wallace University. These “evenings of culture” are meant to highlight the present day German instruction at Baldwin Wallace University while also remembering the institution’s German heritage when the two, distinct institutions Baldwin University and German Wallace College merged into one.

This year’s German-American Kulturabend—which actually takes place in the 150th academic year since the foundation of German Wallace College—is the third in a series of presentations on historical topics about Americans of German descent. The first such event took place in 2010 and was a speech by noted historian and author, Dr. Don Heinrich Tolzmann, entitled: “German-Americans from Northeast Ohio in the Civil War.” The second in our series was “The Unknown Internment of Europeans in the USA during World War II.” The presenter, Mr. Eberhard Fuhr's entire German-American family was arrested and interred on American soil for the duration of WWII as “alien enemies.”

Claire Gebben’s speech is a tale of immigration at the time when Germans were coming in full force. On April 10, 2015 she will bring us “Letters from American: Cleveland Germans in the 19th Century.” Claire Gebben has written The Last of the Blacksmiths, a work of historical fiction based family letters from her ancestor who came to Cleveland from Germany and worked as a blacksmith. The event will take place at 7:00 in Sandstone III in the Strosacker Union on the Baldwin Wallace University campus. Ms Gebben’s speech will be followed by a discussion and book signing as well as a reception. The event is free and open to the public.